Every record company has its own personality, or house style. Chandos, one of a very small handful of British record labels that have weathered the various storms to pass through the record industry and emerge leaner and in good health, is known for its commitment to British music (though it is by no means exclusively Anglocentric) and for its very distinctive recorded sound (especially for orchestral and choral music). And Chandos’s journey, from its foundation in 1979 by Brian Couzens, to its current life under the patronage of Brian’s son Ralph, has been inextricably linked with Gramophone’s – and we’ve enjoyed the shared journey through the rough times and the smooth.

So, as another year draws to a close, a year that brought Chandos another Gramophone Award (for the Bacewicz string quartets), we thought we’d pause to cast an eye back over the past three or four years to celebrate some of the company’s most ear-catching recordings (all were honoured with a Gramophone Editor’s Choice). And to give a slightly privileged perspective on these recordings, I spoke to Ralph about the challenges of working in some of the different venues he chose – these comments can be found throughout this digital magazine. But the overall message he gave was clear: ‘One of the worse things you can have when you’re recording is to be in a venue that adds something horrible to the sound. Where the sound doesn’t escape naturally but gets thrown around in a horrible way, or you get timpani overclouding everything because they boom at a certain frequency. These are the kinds of things we try and avoid. There needs to be a kind of cleanness but an ambience at the same time. Then half the battle is won with the balancing. If the hall’s adding a lot of ref lection and loudness it makes it very difficult to record any t h ing.’

Chandos has always managed to find exciting orchestras and artists that either have a fine venue of their own (think of the BBC Philharmonic in Salford or the Bergen Philharmonic in their own hall in Norway), or have brought them to recording studios that have a special magic – Potton Hall, just a few miles from Aldeburgh in Suffolk, is a case in point. It’s an artist’s dream – an oasis of peace where music can be made without distraction. So it’s no surprise that most of JeanEfflam Bavouzet’s magnificent solo piano recordings have been made there.

Click on the sleeve images and you’ll be transported to Chandos’s own site to sample, read about or buy these very fine recordings. James Jolly December 2017

EDITORIAL

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SPECIAL DIGITAL EDITION EDITED AND DESIGNED BY James McCarthy and James Jolly

ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Esther Zuke / 020 7501 6368

GRAMOPHONE is published by MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London, SE24 0PB, United Kingdom

Ralph Couzens, Managing Director of Chandos Records, was previously Chief Engineer and Production Manager of the label –so he certainly knows his way around a mixing desk!